Prelude
to War
Why America Joined
the Allies in WW II
Order DVD-123
This is a US Government
film, produced by the US Army Signal Corps - and it is jammed full of propaganda
as to why the United States entered World War II on the side of the
Allies.....heavy propaganda.
The film states that it was not because of December 7th at Pearl Harbor, but
rather it was because of Pearl Harbor along with sympathy for Great Britain, France, China,
Czechoslovakia, Norway, Poland, Holland, Greece, Belgium, Albania, Yugoslavia,
Russia and many other reasons. This DVD is the very old standard
"Good Guys vs. Bad Guys" as we all saw in the 1930's and
1940's movies - cops and robbers, cowboys and Indians - always good against
evil.....as decided by the film producers in those movies, and by the US Government
in this one.
If you haven't figured it out yet, the Americans are the "Good Guys"
and naturally, the "Bad Guys" are shown to be Mussolini,
Hitler and Hirohito, attempting to enslave the entire world. It was great
propaganda back then and most believed it - some do even today.
There is a lot of actual combat in this DVD, most from captured German, Italian
and Japanese films. In addition, there are lots of military parades,
marching with stirring patriotic music - American, German, Italian and
Japanese. It is a cross section of the forces portrayed in this film.
There are many interviews with normal Americans in which they all say that
America should not get involved in the war, that the ones fighting should sort
it out themselves, and that America should tend to her own business. But
the film goes on to show that American work projects like the CCC were for the
good of the nation, while the German equivalent, the Arbeitsdienst (Workers
Brigade) was evil, forced slave labor.....which it was not.
Despite the apparent overwhelming feeling of Americans to remain out of the war,
the United States went anyway but not, as the film suggests, to avenge Pearl
Harbor, but to save the world from 'evil domination'. The tired old
(and totally fictional) story of 'World Domination' is constantly pushed
at the viewer, with the same simple message that the 'Free World' must
kill Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini and Emperor Hirohito - then all would be
wonderful in the world.
With the ability to look back today at this propaganda of some sixty or more
years ago, knowing what we now know, it is pretty corny and difficult to
understand that so many people believed it.....and some still do today.
This is a good look at the persuasiveness of heavy doses of propaganda and the
effect it had on the American public. It is no different than any other
type of propaganda, meant to sway the populace to the government's way of
thinking. There are many clips of combat footage from all sides.
CLICK
HERE to order DVD-123